The Narendra Modi government decided in favour of extending Navtej Sarna’s tenure after his successful work during the transition in Washington.

India's ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna with finance minister Arun jaitley at New York's John F Kennedy airport.(PTI file photo)

India’s ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna, is all set to get a one-year extension in Washington. The 1980-batch Indian Foreign Service officer was to retire in December 2017.

South Block sources said that the Narendra Modi government decided in favour of extending Sarna’s tenure after his successful work during the transition in Washington.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump in June. The visits of US defence secretary Jim Mattis and secretary of state Rex Tillerson to New Delhi have led to an expansion of bilateral ties.

Sarna took over as US ambassador on November 5, 2016 and is believed to have good working equation with foreign secretary S Jaishankar and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

The extension order is expected to be issued in December. Before his Washington tenure, Sarna served as Indian envoy to the United Kingdom and Israel. An author of more than six books, Sarna is the longest serving spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs.